Namibia's Top Safari Lodges

Namibia’s wilderness—a land of volcanic mountains and epic dunes—is also the backdrop for a growing number of stylish hideaways.

Namibia came onto the pop-culture radar three years ago, when Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt stayed at a beach resort on the country’s Atlantic coast here while awaiting the birth of their third child. For many, it was the most they had ever heard about this southern African locale, which, it turns out, has a lot more going for it than a brush with Hollywood celebrity.

Namibia has been quietly coming into its own for more than a decade. In addition to spectacular landscapes—vast deserts with thousand-foot sand dunes and a coastline strewn with bleached whalebones and ancient shipwrecks—Namibia has some of the biggest yet least-known game parks in the world. The fourth-largest country in Africa (it’s twice the size of California, which means a flying safari is the best way to see its wonders), Namibia has one of the continent’s smallest populations but one of the highest literacy rates—and most stable democracies.

The country is delightfully unspoiled, and the government wants to keep it that way. Tourism here is low-key: the emphasis is on small, well-designed, environmentally sensitive lodges in remote areas of the country. The last decade, especially, has seen a number of exciting new properties make their debuts in remote areas of the country.

For instance, the Namib Desert—the second largest on the planet after the Sahara—runs for 1,200 miles along the entire Atlantic coast of the country. A decade ago, adventure-travel company Wilderness Safaris acquired a 90,000-acre spread adjacent to the colossal Sossusvlei sand dunes to create the Kulala Wilderness Reserve. Today, this private park contains three small lodges—the newest of which is Little Kulala, which offers 11 stylish, thatched-roof villas, each equipped with a rooftop terrace for stargazing.